Thursday, March 13, 2014

The Curly Dolls Hairstyle Lookbook

I bet this
isn’t the ideal palette you expect to start with when you get up to start on your hair…But for many
Dolls it is. If you’re a Curlie like me stick around for some tips on vintage
hairstyling with your natural texture.

One of the key pieces in putting together
any look and for us Vintage Dolls one of the key pieces to keep our looks
authentic is our hair. Unlike what people think we don’t spend hours and hours
on our hair but we do spend time on it none-the-less. We cut, color, curl, pin,
roll, tuck, tease and that’s just to name a few. A lot of us follow some of our
favorite YouTube vintage hair and makeup gurus like Lisa Freemont street, and A
Vintage Vanity to name a couple of my favorites and we follow them religiously.
Then feeling extremely proud of ourselves when we’ve mastered yet another
style. However here’s the thing if you’re like me you notice an extreme lack in
these tutorials for women with naturally curly hair or even women of color. For
us Curly Dolls were often left a little baffled after watching these tutorials
as great and informative as they are they are often of little use for women
with really curly hair, or coarse hair, etc…. We have no idea how they will
look on our hair and we have no idea how to begin cause at least half of the
steps we don’t need.

Many of us either don’t straighten
our hair at all or like me very rarely nor have no desire to, so there is little
to no use for the pink foam rollers or a curling iron which the majority or
most vintage styles start with. So what’s a curly girl to do?

Well you do the same styles anyone
else does that’s what- and you do them the exact same way, with a few
adjustments to suit. Here’s the thing Dolls what we have working in our favor
is that us naturally curly and wavy Dolls have God given what everyone worked
so hard to achieve back then. Because the ideal hair type for women in the 40’s
through 60’s was in fact curly, why do you think women spent so much time with
the curly perms, and permanent waving systems, and the wet sets every week? It
was because they wanted curly hair. And when you turn on YouTube or wake up in
the morningto get started on your hair what’s
the first thing you do…put curl into it or take the rollers out because the
fact is you just won’t get that perfect Monroe-brush out without them.

When it’s all said and done, us
Curlies have it a lot easier than our straight haired counterparts, though it
may seem not seem like it at times.We
actually have the advantage in the end, women went through amazing even
damaging lengths to achieve a different texture, and if you already have it naturally
you can skip the one major step in just about every vintage style. Accentuate
those curls Dolls and work them to their full advantage, you can do the same
styles as everyone else without sacrificing your curl pattern or risking heat
damaging from countless hours of straightening and then re-curling.

Here are some
Tips to help when styling:

·The
most important thing is that your hair is not going to look like anyone else’s
and that’s okay it’s what makes us unique right? So rather focusing on getting
the perfect brush out, or making your hair look exactly like that picture of
Greta Garbo. Instead focus on achieving the spirit and silhouette of the style
trust me you will not lose the essence of the era.

·Curly
hair is easy to manipulate but can also be more fragile, so there’s no need
for back combing, teasing or anything like that so skip that step.

·Bobby
pins are your best friend use them to manipulate your curls into the shapes,
where you need it to be, and to tame stray strands.You can never have too many Bobbies lol trust
me I know.

·Be
willing to make adjustments to what works right for your particular hair, for
example three victory rolls might not look too great in your hair but…with some
tweaking and imagination you can turn the essence of the style into something
that works for you.

·I
know that we tend to look at old Hollywood actresses, singers, etc. for
inspiration for our styles and looks however it sometimes leaves you out of
touch with how people truly looked during the era. Google pictures of everyday
people during the era and pay close attention to their clothing and hair. While
there weren’t many Hollywood actresses that kept their hair naturally curly
plenty of everyday people did and still wore the popular styles of the era.
Often times the best source of inspiration is street style.

Here are a
few vintage styles done on my own naturally curly hair to give you an idea of
what some vintage styles look like on a person that actually has curly hair:

Hair parted to the side, tucked under and bobby pinned to appear shorter. Front section separated lightly sprayed with hairspray for lift then pin curled to the side to create a faux side bang.

Remember Dolls
Vintage is supposed to be fun not stressful. If something doesn’t work scrap,
tweak it, or try it again but whatever you do BE YOURSELF.Any style becomes a joke the moment you stop
trying to look like you.